COMMERCE – Two longstanding streaks ended on Saturday afternoon on the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House for the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team in a 3-1 win over Houston Christian via set scores of 25-17, 25-19, 19-25, and 25-21.
 
The Lions snapped a six-match losing streak and it was also A&M-Commerce's first win over Houston Christian in five tries since joining the Southland Conference. The Lions are now 7-15 overall and 4-6 in conference play. The Huskies fall to 7-13 overall and 4-5 in SLC competition.
 
"After a tough two weeks, our team responded all week to the direction we want to go and how we get there," said coach Joe Morales. "The team played together throughout the entire match and more relaxed. Our setters did a good job of getting our middles and right-side players involved early."  
 
"Our offense was the most balanced I've seen in a long time. Carly hitting .500, Peyton hitting .308 and Avery with a stellar performance hitting .625, capping that with all three outsides over .200. Truly proud of the team effort today and it showed on the court and on the bench."
 
A&M-Commerce started the match leading 9-3 and led for the remainder of the first set. A 6-0 run for the Lions, which included four aces in the run by Ellie Baumert (Dodge, Neb.) gave A&M-Commerce an 18-8 lead and the Lions took the first set on a bad set by HCU.
 
Both teams exchanged points early in the second set, until the Lions went on a 5-0 run to lead 11-7, which included an ace by Baumert and two HCU attacking errors. Following a Huskie 3-0 run to come to within 17-16, the Lions answered with a 4-1 run jumpstarted by a Huskie service error and went on to take final three points of the set, winning the set on an ace by Jade Smith (Houston – Mayde Creek).
 
Despite losing the first two points of the third set, the Lions came back to lead 5-3, but the Huskies won six of the next eight and went on to take the set 25-19.
 
The fourth set began with the Lions leading 4-1 as A&M-Commerce built a lead as big as seven in the set. HCU made things interested late by saving four match points in a row, but a kill by Avery Wilks (Mont Belvieu – Barbers Hill) snapped the losing skid for the Lions.
 
Wilks led the way with 16 kills for the Lions, while Kitaana Tuufuli (St. Hedwig – Steele) totaled 13 kills, followed by seven from Reese Fetty (Farmersville), who also had 11 digs. Smith was the team leader with 20 digs.
 
Along with her five service aces, Baumert racked up 31 digs and seven digs, while Savannah Jennings (Rosehill Christian) had 13 assists.

POST MATCH INTERVIEW WITH AVERY WILKS
 
UP NEXT
The Lions are on the road at Nicholls next Saturday at 11 a.m.